Greetings, fellow gamers! Get ready to conquer the game with the ultimate Death Must Die Merris build. This guide is your ticket to a playthrough that’s not just successful but downright legendary. So, grab your gear, follow the steps, and let’s make gaming history!
Merris Build in Death Must Die
To unlock all the juicy content, ensure you have Merris and have conquered the Necromancer with our favorite hero at least once. Equip yourself with Alteration Dice-laden gear, and let the blessings rain!
Meris Default Blessings & Signs
Attack Blessings are a specialized type of Blessing that replaces the primary attack associated with specific Heroes and Gods. Some Attack Blessings also provide additional effects based on the hero using them.
| Blessing | Description | Rarity |
|---|---|---|
 Vengeful Strike | Your attacks become stronger and apply Burning. | N/A/E/M |
 Rampaging Strike | Your attack shoots more projectiles that knockback enemies. | N/A/E/M |
 Deadly Strike | Your attacks become stronger and resolve Cursed statuses immediately. | N/A/E/M |
 Chilling Strike | Your attack shoots more projectiles that apply Chilled. | N/A/E/M |
 Warped Strike | Your attacks become stronger. Enemies you hit shoot out experience shards behind them. | N/A/E/M |
 Wrathful Strike | Your attacks become stronger and have a chance to trigger an additional attack. | N/A/E/M |
 Merciful Strike | Your attacks become stronger and apply Weakened. | N/A/E/M |
Signs are exclusive traits associated with Heroes, unlocked through specific conditions, providing passive effects that may upgrade over time. Only one sign can be equipped at a time, chosen at the campfire.
| Sign | Unlock Condition | Effect |
|---|---|---|
 Sign of Fire | Deal 100000 Damage with Merris | You gain +8% Spell Damage every 3 levels (max +80%). |
 Sign of The Helper | Defeat the chatty skeleton 33 times with Merris | Your missiles aim towards enemies. You have +66% Attack Damage. |
 Sign of Timespace | Defeat The Necromancer with Merris | You have infinite pull range, -1 Dash, and -30% Dash Cooldowns. |
 Sign of The Hydra | Get 8 different Autocast Blessings with Merris | You gain +2 Spells Projectile Count. |
 Sign of The Summoner | Get 40 summons with Merris | You gain +22% Summon Damage every 3 levels (max +220%). |
Deities and Blessings
Time
Time is of the essence for this build. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Gem High: Amp up your speed with each experience shard pickup.
- Warped Strike Level 1: Only level 1 needed for the precious experience shards.
Banish these blessings to optimize your setup:
- Force
- Time Field
- Vortex
- The Summoner
Other blessings are optional, but prioritize Gem High and Warped Strike Level 1.
Mort – Death
Death becomes our ally with the following blessings:
- Execution: More EXP-shards, more speed.
- Soulstealers: Spawn phantoms on hit, applying the “Cursed” status.
- Mayhem: A permanent damage boost for every cursed enemy killed.
Banish these to fine-tune your build:
- Necromancy: Given that this is not a summoner build, having too many skeletons would clutter the screen, hindering enemy movement. This passive can impede your progress if scaled too far. While you can experiment with it, it’s not the most efficient option. Consider yourself warned.
- Ravens of Pestilence: Compared to our primary method of dealing damage (infinite attackspeed + damage autoattacks), this blessing is too slow. Banish it to uncover more effective options.
- Lifelink Rank 2 or higher: Grabbing one rank may block other dash skills, but it’s not worth the effort. Banish it for a smoother experience.
Other blessings are beneficial but not mandatory.
Third Deity Options
Now, let’s explore the flexibility of the third deity.
Leigong – Thunder and Storm
The god of Thunder opens up a world of DPS upgrades with Chain Lightning. When we attack, Chain Lightning can trigger, hitting a dozen or more enemies per proc for massive lightning damage. Thanks to the Luck stat multiplying chance-based triggers, this becomes a reliable powerhouse.
Lightning Bolt, another ability, ramps up our lightning damage as we move. Gem-High’s speed boost ensures a high payoff from this skill.
It’s crucial to note that Lightning spells automatically target enemies, avoiding the ground. Be cautious with Ball Lightning, though. Choosing this dash skill disables auto-attack, interrupting EXP shard creation via Warped Strike. Breaking the Gem-High loop means restarting stacking, resulting in fewer level-ups.
Lady Justice – Holy & Healing
Lady Justice offers a plethora of defensive capabilities.
- Divine Shield, scaling with physical defense instead of cooldown reduction, alters decision-making at shrines. Prioritize Armor while aligning with Lady Justice.
- Inner Peace provides passive life regeneration.
- Celestial Wings removes movement penalties after a dash, making it the best dash ability. More mobility means more opportunities to open chests and shrines, boosting not only your current run but all future ones.
Other Blessings here rely on getting hit, which contradicts our avoidance strategy, making them less valuable.
Winter – Ice & Frost
For Winter, focus on three key blessings: Frost Ring, Icebound, and Thaw.
- Frost Ring, with sufficient ranks and investment in spell area, reliably freezes the entire screen over once per second. Initially limited to melee range, Merris, not being a melee hero, may miss targets despite a successful cast.
- Thaw amplifies damage for each frozen enemy.
- Icebound enhances damage against immobilized enemies hit by Frost Ring.
Notably, Frozen Treasure proved unreliable in my attempts to make it work effectively.
Gears
When it comes to items, I suggest the following stat priority:
Weapons:
- Range
- Velocity
- Additional Projectiles
- Alteration Dice
- DPS
- Banishment Dice
Given our ability to scale infinitely with speed and damage-based offensive properties, our weapon’s focus should be on target acquisition properties and reliability in the build-assembly process.
I successfully completed this build on Difficulty 30 using a blue wand with just around 300 DPS.
For all other equipment, prioritize in this order:
- Alteration Dice
- Banishment Dice
- Reroll Dice
- Higher Chance for higher Rarity
- Experience Bonus
- Movement Speed
- Everything else
Remember, beyond 2:30, your combo should be active, and Gem-High should be stacking.
